Judge Dredd: The Cursed Earth
The Cursed Earth is the 2000AD-themed version of The Lost Expedition, and seemingly even more brutal than its predecessor.
Like TLE’s “Mountain” expansion, most of the Location cards have individual effects (almost all of them bad for you). On top of that, there is also untreatable Radiation damage (which is effectively an injury which can’t be healed – killing a character as soon as it exceeds their health), and the added pressure of a Chase – with the opposition having a head start, and the cards incorporating a new “delay” icon, which enables the enemy to extend their lead.
The game has three difficulty levels, and the following games were all played at the easiest level…
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Helpful cards seemed in very short supply in my first game, which (to the surprise of nobody) saw me fail.
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Slightly closer than the first time, but the same result.
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I actually lost ground in the chase this time. With the enemy pushing ahead every day even if you don’t allow them to gain extra ground, reaching the target before they do is incredibly tough. Not allowing them to gain extra ground usually involves getting hurt…
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Aaahhh! So close! I switched up my tactics and managed to not only open up a two-space lead, but to hold it for most of the second half of the game – but it all crashed to a halt just one space short of the target… on my last legs, I was forced to play safe repeatedly in order to remain alive, and I was overtaken once again.
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A win! By the absolute skin of my teeth, at the 11th hour, I manage to draw(*) about the only card which could possibly get me to one final location (before being killed by virtually every other card I’d drawn for the phase), and that new location was where the target turned out to be (meaning that I won immediately, without having to deal with the other cards). Easiest difficulty. Skin of my teeth. I’ll take it : ) I’d managed my cards carefully to give myself that chance, so I felt pretty good about it.
(*) For those who know the game system, this was my final blind draw from the deck in the Morning/Dawn phase of that day, and it not only contained the action combination I desperately needed, but also had a smaller sequence number than any of the other available cards (which was critical, as Morning cards must be played in numeric sequence, and virtually every other card I’d drawn, or had in hand, was going to immediately kill me.) Furthermore, there was only one card remaining in the deck, and my opposition was level with me in the chase, so I was about to lose the game in pretty much every way possible : )
The Lost Expedition (with the Mountain cards, and Rinty the dog)
After all that, I had to have at least one game of this, and I managed another narrow victory!
True to form, virtually the entire party perished (RIP Rinty – your doggy nose and instincts saved us from harm more than once); but my navigator Isabelle made it to the Lost City – with one health and zero rations. Although a post-game peek at the remainder of the deck turned up a remarkable treasure trove of good cards in a row – if I’d only known, I’m sure I could have saved Ynes too.